Chemical warfare agents such as Sarin gas and VX and pesticides/insecticides such as chloropyrifos, paraoxon and parathion exhibit extreme toxicity. Each of these compounds includes a phosphate ester bond. Such compounds irreversibly block a serine hydroxy group in the cellular enzyme acetylcholinesterase by phosphorylation, thereby disrupting a cell's neurological function.
The safe destruction of such compounds is of great environmental concern. Accordingly, substantial effort has been devoted to development of methods for decontamination of such nerve agents, pesticides and insecticides. Toward that end, the cleavage of the P—O—C bond in these compounds has been targeted as a method of decontamination. Many such methods use d-block metals such as cobalt, copper, and zinc. It is also known to destroy nerve agents by hydrolyzing them using basic solutions and/or bleach to oxidize them to less toxic inorganic phosphates and alkali. However, these solutions are caustic and should only be handled under carefully controlled conditions. Large excesses of bleach and/or bases are required for successful decontamination, and the active agent (chlorine) in bleach decreases with time. Bases and bleach are also not selective for nerve agents, and readily undergo undesirable and potentially explosive side reactions. In addition, bleach is corrosive to surfaces of many materials it contacts.
There is accordingly identified a need in the art for a successful deactivating/destroying agent for such toxic nerve agents as nerve gas (Sarin gas, VX, and the like) and organophosphate pesticides. Such an agent should (a) be easily synthesized from inexpensive reagents, (b) be soluble in the same solvents as the nerve gases/pesticides, (c) be selective for the nerve agents, (d) not readily undergo unwanted side effects upon reaction with the nerve agents, and (e) be substantially non-toxic. Significantly, such a deactivating/destroying agent will also be useful in deactivating or destroying other organic or biological agents that include phosphate ester bonds.